Immersion, Tilcon, Wind River and Renesas Demonstrate Auto Industry's First All-in-One Interface Design Solution
DETROIT--April 29, 2003--Combined Haptics, Graphics, Processors and Real-Time Operating Systems Expand Designer Freedom, Speed Innovation and Time to Market
TELEMATICS UPDATE--Demonstrating the most advanced auto-interface design technologies for the first time, four leading technology companies have fully integrated haptic controls with the industry's standard graphics, operating system and API. The term "haptics" refers to the science of touch, also known as force feedback. The demonstration in Wind River's booth No. 10-11 is a result of the collaboration among Immersion Corp. , a leading developer of haptic technology; Tilcon Software Ltd, one of the world's leading suppliers of visual user interface technology; Wind River Systems Inc. , the worldwide market leader in embedded software and services; and Renesas Technology America Inc., a subsidiary of the new joint-venture semiconductor company established by Hitachi, Ltd. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. The new all-in-one solution brings together graphic and haptic human-machine interaction (HMI) interfaces in an embedded platform with a real-time OS.
"In support of safety and new vehicle information systems, haptics is happening in the auto industry," said Joe DiNucci, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Immersion Corp. "The sense of touch is already in high-end cars, and is scheduled to reach the broader auto market over the next few years. Previously a complex, laborious process, our four-way collaboration now fully integrates haptics with other state-of-the-art automotive design tools. For auto manufacturers and integrators, this integration means a significant savings of time and money while also giving them more design flexibility."
"Working with Immersion enables us to offer automotive manufacturers a ready-made solution combining cutting-edge haptic technology with superior dashboard display technology," says Ernest Hollander, Vice-President of Engineering at Tilcon. "Car manufacturers plan to deploy very elaborate information systems within automotive dashboards. A plan that will fail if these systems aren't easy to use. Drivers employ their sense of sight and touch to control a car. Integration of haptic and visual display technologies provides superior feedback both in what the driver sees by way of Tilcon's dashboard instruments and what the driver feels through Immersion's haptic controls. The integration of these technologies makes the information system usable and the car easier to drive."
Auto Manufacturer and Integrator Benefits
The cooperation of these four companies greatly expands the range of options for automotive manufacturers and integrators looking for new tools to create state of the art vehicle information systems. This powerful combination of hardware and software gives auto designers new freedom in designing and customizing auto interfaces, making them more intuitive and easier to use. The integration can help auto manufacturers and integrators reduce their car development effort and save them a significant amount of time and money. In turn, drivers get the most advanced instrumentation, audio and navigation interfaces with advanced telematics and multimedia applications.
"OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers developing car infotainment devices face an increasingly competitive, ever-changing market with a myriad of development challenges," said Marc Serughetti, Director of Marketing for automotive, industrial, aerospace and defense. "By using this all-in-one auto interface design solution with the WIND RIVER(R) PLATFORM for Car Infotainment, OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers have the proven integrated technologies and automotive expertise they need to allow their developers to focus on their competitive value added technologies."
"Showing how Immersion's haptic devices interface to our telematics hardware reference platform ("Bigsur-Amanda" and "Biscayne") opens up new doors for customers using our products," said Tatsuo Yamamoto, Vice President of the SuperH system solution business unit at Renesas Technology America, Inc. "This demonstrates how these products can be used by our customers today and can quickly implement actual input control devices increasingly used in automotive vehicles."
All-in-One Auto Interface Design Solution
This new system includes the following components:
Hardware:
| -- | Renesas Super H family of microprocessor and prototyping environment |
| -- | Immersion Haptic Controls |
Software:
-- WIND RIVER PLATFORM for Car Infotainment -- a market-specific
platform that pre-integrates the industry's most reliable
real-time operating system (RTOS), Wind River's Vx Works, with
development tools, multimedia APIs and connectivity protocols
-- Tilcon Dashboard graphical user interface development suite
"TRTD"
-- Tilcon TRTD run time graphics engine
-- Immersion Automotive API
-- Immersion Studio(TM) for Automotive graphical development
environment
About Immersion (www.immersion.com)
Founded in 1993, Immersion Corp. is a recognized leader in developing, licensing and marketing haptic technology and products. Bringing value to markets to enhance user interaction, safety, or productivity, Immersion helps its partners develop and increase competitive advantage and broaden market reach by making the use of touch sense feedback as critical a user experience as sight and sound. Immersion's technology is deployed across personal computing, entertainment, medical training, automotive and three-dimensional simulation markets. Immersion and its wholly owned subsidiaries hold over 185 issued patents worldwide.
About Tilcon Software Ltd.(www.tilcon.com)
Tilcon has over 14 years' experience in developing user interface tools for real-time and embedded application developers. The result is an effective development kit used worldwide in demanding, highly interactive applications. Clients include GE Transportation Systems, Gambro, Johnson & Johnson, NEC, Lockheed Martin, Ericsson, United Defense, Siemens, United States Postal Service and many others.
About Wind River (www.windriver.com)
Wind River is the worldwide leader in embedded software and services. It provides market-specific embedded platforms that integrate real-time operating systems, development tools and technologies. Wind River's products and professional services are used in multiple markets including aerospace and defense, automotive, digital consumer, industrial, and network infrastructure. Wind River provides high-integrity technology and expertise that enables its customers to create superior products more efficiently. Companies from around the world turn to Wind River to create the most reliable products and to accelerate their time to market.
Founded in 1981, Wind River is headquartered in Alameda, California, with operations worldwide. To learn more, visit Wind River at http://www.windriver.com or call Wind River at 1-800-872-4977.
About Renesas Technology Corp. (www.renesas.com)
Renesas Technology Corp. designs and manufactures highly integrated semiconductor system solutions for mobile, networking, automotive, industrial and digital home electronics markets. Established on April 1, 2003 as a joint venture between Hitachi, Ltd. and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Renesas Technology is one of the largest semiconductor companies in the world and the number one microcontroller supplier globally. Besides microcontrollers, Renesas Technology offers system-on-chip devices, Smart Card ICs, mixed-signal products, flash memories, SRAMs and more.
Forward Looking Statement
Statements made in this media alert other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including those that reflect management's current forecast of certain aspects of Immersion's future. Forward-looking statements made in this press release are based on current information, which we have assessed but which by its nature is dynamic and subject to rapid and even abrupt changes. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the rate of acceptance and benefits of haptic technology for the auto industry. Immersion's actual results might differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with Immersion's business which include, but are not limited to, delay in or failure to achieve commercial demand for Immersion's touch-enabled technology products or a delay in or failure to achieve the acceptance of touch sense feedback as a critical user experience.
Risks and uncertainties related to Immersion's business in addition to those described above are further outlined in Immersion's Annual Report on Form 10-K and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. These reports are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These factors may not constitute all of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in any forward-looking statement. Immersion is not obligated to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this medial alert.
Note to Editors: Immersion and Immersion Studio are trademarks of Immersion Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.